Designing a life well lived

I’ve lived a life that many think is outrageous, extravagant, unbelievable, enviable and some think irresponsible. WOW, that never stops making me sad. Seriously, I’ve lived so many of my dreams, why is that enviable? We should all be living our lives out loud!

I grew up crazy poor in an outrageously dysfunctional home and spent my childhood hanging onto visions of what I wanted in life because I was certain that the life I was raised or conditioned to live would ABSOLUTELY NOT win out! I knew there was art, intellectual discussions, gorgeous far away places, careers and loves that would be mine if I stayed open to the vast choices we all have the ability to make in our lives.

Sure, as I lived each dream I also had a crazy amount of dysfunctional behavior of my own to clear up but I kept going after my dreams regardless of the emotional crap brought out of my childhood.

I decided instead of writing the design blog I’d dreamed of or the travel blog I’d dreamed OR the inspirational blog I’d dreamed of that I would create this blog. A blog about my favorite quote of all time!

I CAME INTO THIS WORLD TO LIVE OUT LOUD!

Yep, there’s more to that original quote but this is the part that has resonated with me my whole freakin life! So this my fellow rock stars, (regardless of wether you’ve had the courage yet or not to be your fabulous rock star self ) is what I’ll be sharing with you.

For me, luscious design of all forms, traveling on day trips to year long sailing trips and love in its many forms is what defines Living my life out loud FOR ME. Perhaps over time, if you have not yet ” gone out loud ” with your life, my crazy personal stories will help you to say, “Fuck it… Life is to short for me to stay quite”

Articles about curating your wardrobe seem ridiculous to many of my readers I know. Give me a moment to clarify why this can add freedom, ease and confidence to your daily life. I promise, you might feel inspired to edit that closet and create a Pinterest board to assist you when you’re out shopping!

How to even figure out HOW you want to look in your daily life.

1 Know your needs
Here’s how to analyse your lifestyle requirements:

Make a list of your regular activities: Work, meeting friends, time at home, etc.
This is what your final wardrobe and also your starter kit should be tailored to.

Yes Dear, I am discussing your “Starter kit” because you WILL procrastinate if you think you need to harness your ideal wardrobe all at once!

2 Define your ideal wardrobe

Your starter kit pieces should all be part of a bigger framework you are working towards: your ideal wardrobe. Define your style and then write down some notes on what your current wardrobe lacks for this ideal wardrobe. Feel free to go into as much detail as you like here, but don’t feel like you need to have every single thing planned out. Concentrate on the overall look you are going for and the most important elements of your style (key colours, fabrics, proportions or details).

3 Choose maximum-impact key pieces
that are versatile

Now that you have a better idea of your lifestyle and the wardrobe you are working towards, you can use these two pieces of information to figure out which types of items would have the biggest impact on your look right now and could serve as corner stones for your ideal wardrobe. For now, try to only focus on which types of items might be good candidates for your starter kit.

Here are some guidelines for choosing your starter kit pieces:

What are your 3 biggest activities you consistently invest your time in? How happy are you with your wardrobe options at the moment for these 3 areas of your life? For maximum impact the majority of your starter kit should be tailored to the one activity that you are least happy with.
What are the colors, fabrics and overall style you want represented in the most lacking area of your wardrobe? Choose pieces that really signify the key idea of the overall look you are going for that you already own. From here you will see what you need to purchase for your starter kit. For example, if you want your ideal wardrobe to contain lots of well fitting pants with brightly colored shirts but your pants are not fitting well yet your shirt collection is fabulous, you have nailed what you need. Put a pair of navy and a pair of camel colored well tailored pants on your list. Select items that you will get a lot of wear out of i.e. can wear several times a week and several times between washes.
To give extra versatility to these new options look at your current shoes, bags and accessories. Do you have dress shoes as well as casual sandals that can be worn with these outfits? If not which do you need to add to your starter kit? Continue with bags and jewelry, you will most likely have dress up and dress down options that will allow you to start truly defining your ideal lifestyle wardrobe and only need to add to your starter kit what is missing or worn out.

4 Find the best quality your money can buy

Once you have figured out which types of pieces you want to include in your starter kit, the next step is to go out and find a version for each item that fulfils your criteria and is in your price range. Make it your goal to hunt down the best quality your money can buy: that includes the quality of the garment itself but also how well it fits your individual body and style concept. Here are a couple of pointers on finding good quality garments on a budget:

Price is not a reliable indicator of quality, that’s why it’s a good idea to study up on how you can assess the quality of a garment yourself, especially when you are on a tight budget.
As a general rule, you’ll have much better luck finding simple, unstructured pieces at more affordable stores than pieces that are very detail-rich and tailored. So, for pieces for which tailoring and details aren’t a crucial component, consider going for a simpler version.
For things like jackets and coats or any other item that you can’t find at a good quality in your price range: Go the second-hand/vintage route! Successful second-hand shopping usually takes up quite a bit of time, i.e. time to browse through thousands of online listings and clothing rails. If you are prepared for that, definitely give it a go!

5 Continue working towards your ideal wardrobe at your own pace

Once you have your starter kit all set, you will undoubtedly already be a lot happier with the general state of your wardrobe and hopefully will also be extra motivated to stick to your newfound style resolutions from now on. So: Set yourself a flexible budget and continue to work towards your ideal wardrobe, however fast or slow your budget allows.

Instead of five new pieces a month, you may only be able to afford one or two new pieces now. But if chosen well, those two pieces a month slowly but steadily add up to something bigger: A cohesive, high-quality wardrobe full of pieces you love and can wear for many seasons to come.

A closet filled with Intentional choices that allow you to wear pieces that feel great, look great and create numerous outfits out of minimal items saves time, headaches and money.

Smooch

For lots more advice on how to rebuild your wardrobe from scratch: Check out the INTO MIND workbook.

Oh my, I moved from Columbus, Ohio to Palm Springs, California on February 3, 2017 filled with big joyful energy ready to continue designing my life well lived. I truly thought I’d blog daily but you know what, I’ve been busy living my new life instead.

I came with a job in Interior Design all set, worked it for 6 months and due to not having the happiness I want in my work life, I quit. Yep, I up and walked out and am focusing on a new business, a business based on the one issue my clients in design have always struggled with and that I am a rock star in finding solutions to. ORGANIZATION!

Sounds boring I know…we all avoid it in different areas but the 2 main areas I’ve always seen people procrastinate the most in is home organizing…especially their closets and hidden draws and closets and their business paper work. O.k. One other area is self care, i.e. Doctors appointments, massage, facials, working out.

So here I am, hiking mountains, exploring new galleries and starting a new business. Am I loving life? Absolutely! For those of you who have been reading Designing a Life Well Lived you know that finding joy in daily life is something I am a loyal advocate of and I truly do believe that life is simply meant for Living Out Loud.

I promise to get back to this blog and will be posting quit a bit about creating an organized life via tending to our health, our wardrobes, our homes and our need for travel and friendship.

August 30 I will post a few helpful tips for finding your personal style. In finding this, you will be given the tools by yours truly to STOP random shopping and create an Intentional wardrobe. When we do this we save money better spent on travel, savings or whatever makes you feel strong, secure and happy. It also assures you of removing stress and frustration from your morning routine and even better, assures you step out into the world everyday feeeling like a million bucks!

(Image credit: Hannah Lee) Planning a party, big or small, comes with endless choices — decision fatigue is real! So let your signature cocktail be an easy pick and leave it to the stars. Here’s what they have to say about your sipping future. (Image credit: Hannah Lee) ARIES (March 21 to April 19): DIY […]

What does it all mean to a single woman in her 50’s? I will tell you, JOY, spontaneity, free time to do what you damn well please, time to flirt with handsome men, take hot bubble baths, get on the yoga mat for as much or as little time as you want, design the next stage of your fabulous career, remodel your home, hike a mountain, buy a new wardrobe if you please with NO questions asked.

I am 55 years old, moved myself to GORGEOUS Palm Springs, California 3 months ago, am restarting my interior design business clear across the country from where I was making a comfy income. For the first time I own my home ALONE, no one else to help with expenses but I am also making design plans that no one else must approve of!

I am taking myself to elegant restaurants, hiking alone in the mountains and slowly making new friends. This my dear lady friends is very fun all on my own schedule!

Money has finally become excessively tight and I don’t care. I know myself well enough to know, I can up my creative hustle and all will be just fine, I didn’t leave the feisty Punk Rock era of my early 20’s without skills well learned!. My cats are becoming indoor outdoor cats (at their crazed insistence) and it makes me nervous but I do understand their need for freedom in the gorgeous desert and the related risk, much like the risk that I may be eaten alive in the competitive design world known as S. California. My home is slowly being decorated because well, cash is tight but also because I want to take my time, change my mind without judgment and nail it when I finally decide how every room will be styled.

So what does Fashion, Design and A well style life have to do with any of this?

Fashion was my first artistic love and when I nail it as my own personal stylist each morning I feel like I can WIN at anything I take on. Interior design was a very close 2nd love at a very young age, but after I found fashion. Working in this luscious field allows me to do what I love, be surrounded by yummy visuals every day and work with clients on understanding the importance a well styled home has on our emotional life.

A well styled life simply means taking enough time alone whether on walks, vacations or in hot baths to truly feel what life style resonates with you. No matter how scary, expensive or time consuming it will be to manifest this lifestyle JUMP off the cliff and do it! Even in little stages you will feel the energizing resonance flushing through every cell, every minute of your day.

Rocking ageing with strength, agility, freedom, friendship, health and joy. Is this not what we all want? Well grrrrl, let’s do it! We do not need to be perfect in our attempts we simply need to be fearless in each day expanding our limits.

One day my leg will stretch fully straight but for now, it’s better than it was. Today my joy is strengthening with each new friendship I make.

My dreams are closer because I simply allow them to come true, NO MATTER WHAT!

This post is simply asking, Can we all applaud each other for our fearless movement toward ageing with joy today?

Kisses to all of you, let’s rock this powerful, sexy thang called ageing!

I write about Designing a life well lived. It is mostly about loving our selves and our world community. This sad, powerful and beautiful post addresses a cultural need for us to take seriously the act of loving our brothers and sisters of all walks of life. I am a white woman, silence in regard to racism is simply NOT an act of love. Speak up, stand up when ever you see and hear racism, please.